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Oser Communications Group Orlando Thursday, January 26, 2017 AN INDEPENDENT PUBLICATION NOT AFFILIATED WITH FETC Schools and districts that are deploying 1-to-1 initiatives are most vul- nerable to students falling into the Homework Gap. Although the intent of technology is to ensure students have access to the tools and tech- nology to compete and learn in a modern world – if the district does not also have a plan for Internet outside the classroom, a number of students will actually fall further behind. More than just Internet One affordable way districts can offer home Internet access for students is with Kajeet Education Broadband™. Education Broadband includes a Wi-Fi hotspot called a Kajeet SmartSpot ® that is easy for students to use, connects to a lightning fast 4G net- work – with Verizon – and costs approximately $15 to $20 per student per month. Any Wi-Fi compatible Chromebook, Netbook, laptop or tablet they connect with is filtered specifically for school assignment use; inappropriate and non-education content is blocked and cannot be accessed. DO YOU HAVE STUDENTS WITHOUT INTERNET AT HOME? An interview with Nikki Eatchel, Senior Vice President of Assessment, Scantron Corporation. ESD: How does ESSA change the game for assessment? NE: Under NCLB, a single score represented student achievement. While there is certainly value in summative assessment, a more holistic picture of student accomplishment reflects both on-grade achievement and overall growth during the year, as well as considering non-traditional factors. ESSA encourages a broader view of educational success. ESD: What kinds of assessment can now be considered? NE: Summative assessment still plays a role, but measuring student achievement is no longer limited to a single test at the conclusion of the school year that defines Moxie Reader is the new app on the block. It lets teach- ers ditch paper reading logs and provides them with level books for their classroom library and an app that thinks like them to search and recommend books for stu- dents. Kids love scanning books and logging these into their reading fitness tracker to see their reading stats grow, and parents love knowing ahead of time how many books their children need to read and what they can do to help. Moxie Reader lets students measure their progress against personalized goals, not just against other students who might read faster. The app even awards students with points when they help their classmates read more. Students also get personalized recommendations for the next just-right book from their classroom library, so they can keep on reading every day. Students read books that the app recommends by learning the student's preferences and measuring those against other kids' books, from paperbacks to e-books. When the students finish their books, they'll review them for their classmates, influencing them to make quality choices for Julia Dweck's classroom in Macungie, Pennsylvania looks more like a production studio than your typical elementary school. Students from different grade levels work together in small groups, scribbling angles and math formulas on the whiteboard, writing a storyboard script for a video and creating code on their iPad for a robot named Dash from Wonder Workshop™. There are occasional heated debates and shenanigans, but they are all laser focused on solving challenges in the Wonder League Robotics Competition. STEM education is top of mind as high-paying jobs in STEM fields are growing with not enough American students to fill them. Many efforts are directed towards sec- ondary schools, but research shows that introducing STEM early plays a key role in cognitive development and interest in the subjects later on. Elementary school teachers are paving the way to look for meaningful ways to bring STEM to life in their class- rooms. Continued on Page 21 Continued on Page 21 EVERY STUDENT SUCCEEDS ACT OPENS NEW DOORS, PROVIDES CHALLENGES MOXIE READER: MORE INDEPENDENT READING HOW ROBOTICS TRANSFORMS STEM IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS Continued on Page 21 Continued on Page 21